Desicritics Author: Nitin Karani

2009 - Freedom From Fear

Nitin Karani — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:22:26 EST

Last year began on a very sour note for some of us. Barely had we said goodbye to January than the Maharashtra Police orchestrated the drama of busting a gay party, before it could commence, just outside Bombay (in Thane) for the benefit of the TV media. The police officials got their 15 seconds of fame and managed to curry favour with the voyeuristic channels, who in turn got their ‘exclusives’ and grabbed some filthy and some even self-righteous viewers by their eyeballs.

Privacy has traditionally been at a discount in Indian society, with its joint families, and gossipy maids and neighbours. So it is okay for you to party and be featured in full colour, but those of us at society’s margins should get used to the police barging in, breaking up our parties, forcibly outing us and parading us on national television like criminals and freaks? The tamasha sent forth a wave of great fright among closeted gay people around India.

Fear is what we, the people of India, gave ourselves on Independence. Fear of the unknown, fear of the other. Fear that fed on ignorance of the other. Fear of the majority, a majority that is itself fearful of what it chooses to neither understand nor recognise. Fear of a shameful, relic of the British, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a law that makes an adult like me criminal for life if the police can prove I made love with another adult male. This fear nourishes the HIV epidemic among us.

Fear has caused us to forget that we also gave ourselves a constitution that enshrines some human rights and enjoins each one of us to uphold them. So the police can abdicate its duties to protect and fearlessly abuse its powers. And the government can, through its infamous ex Home Minister and his former minions, make perversions of these rights in writing to the Delhi High Court, which is charged with public interest litigation (PIL) to read down the shameful section that strikes fear in closeted hearts.

Freedom from fear should be the theme in 2009, continuing from Mumbai’s grand, cosmopolitan-as-a-rainbow march for Queer Azaadi on 16 August, and the June-end debut Pride parades of Delhi and Bangalore (Kolkata’s annual march against homophobia started nine years earlier when just 13 men mapped the city, with the rest of the queer community staying in the shadows).

Freedom to question the assumption of being heterosexual without fear, the man-woman definition of marriage, and the very importance of such a marriage for a queer person. Freedom to love and live with a person of the same sex without fear. Freedom to educate oneself about safer sex and use the services of a health professional as a queer person, without the fear of stigma, neglect and ‘treatment for homosexuality’ that occurs despite prescribed Good Medical Practice and ethics. Freedom to be out at work without fear of harassment or discrimination. Freedom from the fear of being entrapped and blackmailed by a police stooge simply for being gay and closeted. Freedom from hiding in the closet, wearing a mask, using an alias. Freedom from the insecurities that come from being closeted. Freedom to live without fear of losing one’s dignity. Freedom from the fear of being treated as less than equal by the law.

The march towards Freedom from fear will receive a boost if the Delhi High Court makes the bigots in the government apparatus swallow a bitter PIL and champions the human rights in the Indian Constitution. We will cover the rest of the way forward with a little help from each other and each of our families. Waiting for the dawn of a real Happy New Year. Meanwhile, here’s wishing you one!

Remembering Vijay Tendulkar's Mitra

Nitin Karani — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:44:15 EDT

Many of you would have noted the death of Padma Bhushan Vijay Tendulkar, playwright, scriptwriter and civil liberties champion (he was also the father of the late Priya ‘Rajani’ Tendulkar). The theatre, film and journalist fraternities have paid rich tributes to him.

Many of these would have made reference to his iconoclasm but omitted any reference to his play, Mitrachi Ghoshta (A Friend’s Story), where the central character is lesbian and the story is about her struggle to cope with her sexual orientation and (as Rohini Hattangady, who played the character, has said) ultimate ‘inevitable’ suicide.

When I saw the Hindi version of the play, Kahani Sumitra Ki, (in perhaps the late 1990s) staged by Chetan Datar and his theatre group, I thought it was dated and, of course, depressing. I had recently come out then and was, perhaps, more of an idealist then. Still, Tendulkar had the guts to dare to be different.

As I look back now at the play, it’s distressing how the fiction of his play is still a truth for many lesbians even today. The play’s other main character, Bapu, –
“ultimately comes to represent: a homophobic society that keeps its blinders on to naturalize straight relationships as the norm, even if this should lead to a tragic end.”
(Source: Humanities Retooled)

Incidentally, Tendulkar also wrote the screenplay for the Smita Patil-starrer, Umbartha (based on Shanta Nisal’s novel Beghar), which featured a lesbian couple who set themselves afire.

*****
Tendulkar was in his teens and lived in Pune when he became acquainted with ‘Mitra’, the girl on whose life he based Mitrachi Ghoshta. This was in the early 1940s. A classmate of Mitra from college became friends with Tendulkar and would talk about this girl whom the playwright had seen many times before and even seen her performance on stage. The actor friend also told him about Mitra’s affair with another girl which “practically finished her (Mitra’s) life” when it ended.
Tendulkar recounted all this and more in his June 2001 preface to the play’s English translation (by Gowri Ramnarayan), which was published by Oxford University Press. He remembers “the shock waves and confusion” that the story about Mitra’s lesbian affair caused in his young mind. “I had just begun my career in writing then. But what I heard about Mitra did not prompt me to write about her at once. It took some years to surface in the form of a short story. It was written in the mid 50s…. The title was Mitra. It appeared in one of the Diwali annuals in Marathi, and was appreciated.”

A few years later, when he had moved to Mumbai, Mitra was again on his mind. By then he had seen her living as a spinster in Pune. Tendulkar said, “I was an adult then, with enough knowledge of the same-sex world which existed around me but was still considered a taboo. The thought of writing and staging a play on such a relationship was out of the question. Yet the play Mitra materialized.”
It was staged only a few times by some young actors. The play was “hated by the women and sneered at by the men in the audience”.

*****
Mitra is widely acknowledged as the first Marathi play (and perhaps even the first Indian play) on same-sex relations. Tendulkar, however, emphasized that it was merely about “a young boy touching twenty, inexperienced in many human ways, and still a virgin when he comes in contact with Mitra. He feels a deep attachment for her after the first feelings of wonder, and gets involved with her until she destroys herself.”

In a note to the translation, Hattangady, said that, “Sumitra, that is Mitra, being ‘different’ is the core (essence) of the play.” Much before Hattangady played Sumitra, she had read the script “and liked it. The subject was new and different — in the first instance, almost unpalatable.” For Hattangady, it was “a chance, and a challenge” to play “such a character (Nothing like this had been tackled before in India, on stage or the screen, way back in 1980.)” Tendulkar greenlighted the performance only after he had seen it himself because “the subject could be easily misinterpreted.”

“…Even when we performed it, it was labeled as a ‘bold subject’ or ‘what sort of subject is it?’ It did not run too well as a commercial play, but those who saw our performance, still remember it as an ‘unforgettable’ experience.”

*****
As an aside, Hattangady wrote that she read up on homosexuality “to get a better idea… and came to a broad understanding that these attractions are of two kinds, one based on circumstances and two, on physical hormonal imbalance. Mitra belongs to the second category.” Surprising that even in 2001 she harbored such out of date notions about homosexuality. But Hattangady also uses the words ‘abnormality’ and ‘different’ in quotes in the note.

Another incident she has recounted shows her sensitive nature: “To go for the rehearsals, I had to travel by local train in Mumbai…. One day while traveling, a eunuch boarded the train. There was not much of a mad rush. The train stopped at the next station. A few ladies got down and a few entered. They looked strangely at the eunuch. I was watching them and the ‘look’ on their faces. Isn’t Mitra also ‘different’? That look on their faces said so many things to me. From that day onwards, Mitra came closer to me still.”

My Own Private Idaho

Nitin Karani — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:33:24 EDT

"If you wait for someone to give you freedom, that’s charity, permission — not freedom.”

Christy Jayanthi Malar (38) and Rukmani (40) decided there was no other way but death to get their freedom. At the stroke of midnight that marked the beginning of the International Day Against Homophobia, died hugging each other. They set alight their kerosene-soaked bodies and escaped the harassment and abuse of society — a society that could only see their physical relationship but not their love for each other.

Christy and Rukmani, both from underprivileged, rural backgrounds, had known each other since school. In the intervening years, they had got married. They met again 10 years ago. Rukmani had been forced by her relatives to move from place to place to keep her away from Christy and was even married off a second time after she separated from her first husband. All because Rukmani and Christy’s was an “unusual relationship” that caused “much consternation” to their families.

On the day before their death they were publicly humiliated and abused—just for loving each other. In fact, not for just loving each other but because they were of the same gender. It wasn’t their caste, class, religion, age—it was because the couple was of the same gender. Society found that so unacceptable that they wished them dead.

*********

Would you wish your son were never born because he turned out to be gay? I know one set of parents who have uttered these words over and over again for their only son. My ex-boyfriend, H. Yes, there still live people like that right here in our midst, in urban, middle class Mumbai, forget rural Tamil Nadu.

If some parents or relatives think their ideas of caste hierarchy, normality and so-called respectable society are more important than their child’s or brother’s happiness or choice of life partner (or his/her gender), then they are anyway not worth having as parents or relatives. I don’t say abandon them—try to make them see your viewpoint, but if that doesn’t help, do your filial duty, and then leave it to destiny. If you both are lucky, then with time they will come around to your viewpoint. If not, then say to yourself that your karmic account with them is settled and over; you owe nothing more to each other. (I believe in karma and transmigration.)

As children, we don’t owe an extra favor to our parents—and certainly not the favor of getting married to a partner of their choice—just for raising us. Even animals and birds nurture and love their offspring. Probably, their love is even more selfless than the love of human parents because birds and animals don’t expect anything in return from their young — their offspring don’t even look after them!

I believe it’s better one maintain a relationship only with those who respect you for what you are and love you unconditionally. My ex-boyfriend’s parents are traditional Maharashtrian Brahmins, so they would believe in karma and transmigration too. I hope they and parents such as these get their just deserts and remain childless in their coming births. They do not deserve to be parents.

*********

I do not blame the parents alone. It’s people like my ex-boyfriend who cave into the emotional blackmailing and pressure. Or people such as Rukmani and Christy who may have inspired other women like Deepa to come out and speak up, but in their death they have also become negative role models. I fear more suicides, especially in a state such as Kerala that’s notorious for lesbian suicide pacts. (So much for being a state that is more literate and has traditionally favored women.)

Deepa is one of the few women who dare to speak publicly about her sexual orientation. "We tend to avoid talking about certain issues, which other people find uncomfortable to face," she says. "It just makes it tougher for other women." She believes that talking about the issue openly is the way to get people to understand the issue.

Being gay is nothing to be ashamed of, nothing wrong. This is the conviction gay and lesbian people should have, instead of grasping on to a false sense of honor and pride in belonging to so-called normal society. If some people have misconceptions about sexuality, it is even more important that we as gay people speak up and correct them. We can’t afford to be stuck in this vicious cycle: you feel you cannot come out because you are afraid to face people’s negative reactions, and people react negatively because they don’t have enough information about homosexuality. It’s our own responsibility to break the cycle instead of lamenting about it. How can you sit around waiting for change to happen automatically or someone else to bring it about? If you don’t speak up, you create your own hell.

*********

And the only respect you’ll get from your loved ones will be after your suicide. They’ll cremate you and your lover together, and they will pretend shock and shed crocodile tears. But as long as you are live and you let them push you around, you will be not allowed to be with the one you love. And after your death, the state will protect your murderous kin. So the Indian Penal Code applies to us but not to them.

A senior police officer said action would not be taken against the relatives. "We can't say the relatives pushed the women into suicide. They might have verbally abused them, but that was to bring them back to normal life," a senior police officer said.

And moreover, the state shall argue in the courts that being gay consenting adults, you should be deprived of the fundamental rights granted to every Indian by the Constitution. (see entry dated Friday, September 26, 2003 on http://queerindia.rediffblogs.com) I say go ahead and 'break' such unfair laws. Damn the state, damn society. Long live we, the people.

*********

The quote at the beginning is paraphrased from the movie, A cause d'un garcon.

Interview: Bindumadhav Khire, Gay Activist and Marathi Writer

Nitin Karani — Tue, 6 May 2008 00:38:35 EDT

Bindumadhav Khire is a techie who gave up his career in the US to return to India and get involved with issues close to his heart. Based in his native Pune ever since his return, Bindu is a gay rights and AIDS activist.

He has been speaking about queer issues at various forums in India, particularly in his city. In 2005, Bindu donned the hat of a Marathi writer with his novel, Partner. NGOs working in the field of sexuality have been using Partner for sensitisation. Bindu’s latest book, Indradhanu: Samalaingikateche Vividh Ranga ("Rainbow: The Various Hues of Homosexuality"), discusses different aspects of homosexuality from an Indian perspective. "Indradhanu" promises to be of value to people from various backgrounds, especially gay and bisexual youth struggling with their sexual orientation, and their parents and friends; people from the medical fraternity; NGOs working in related fields; policy makers; corporates; and the media. Bindu is currently working on another Marathi book, A, B, C of Sexuality.

Below, excerpts from my e-mail interview with Bindumadhav Khire:

Being gay should be a non-issue in an ideal world. What were the milestones, and highs and lows until you reached a point of self-acceptance, when you could acknowledge your "gayness" to all without it becoming a confessional?

KHIRE: I went through denial (when I hoped I would change), depression (I thought of committing suicide) and hate (towards God for making me gay). I was shy, very poor in communication, had zero self-esteem. I was married and got divorced a year later. When I was in the US, I got in touch with San Francisco-based Trikone (an LGBT organisation) and that’s how I started becoming comfortable with my sexuality. I volunteered with them and became part of the "Trikone family". I became the assistant publisher and then publisher of "Trikone", their quarterly magazine.

As I became more comfortable with my sexuality, I started feeling suffocated and felt that I had to come out. I first came out to a friend at the workplace. Every coming out then was an adventure. I participated in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, the San Jose Gay Pride Parade. … When I came back to India, I came out to my parents. This was the most difficult part. They were shocked. It's taken them time to cope with my being gay. My mother's been just great. My experiences in the US and achieving financially stability went a long way in helping me so that now I don’t give a damn what neighbours, friends and strangers feel about me.

What made you give up a lucrative career as a software engineer in the US to return to Pune much before NRI homecomings became a trend? You could have stayed there and been involved with causes close to your heart in the local community?

Once I was comfortable with my sexuality, I saw no reason to file for a Green Card and stay in the US. I also felt guilty about having got married. I wanted to come out and expiate that guilt. Also, despite having stayed in the US for four years and loving every moment of it, I did feel a bit like a fish out of water. I am more comfortable here (in Pune).

How much did you have to educate yourself so to speak about the work you are doing now, and how did you do it?

A lot. A lot of reading and learning had to be done. Luckily, I received much help from some outstanding people like Dr. Raman Gangakhedkar (He taught me pre- and post-test counselling and related ethical issues)., Dr. Vijay Thakur (He taught me the principles of befriending and the basics of running a helpline.), Dr. Bhooshan Shukla (He gave me info on sexuality.), Sunita Wahi gave me a lot of books to read. ... I could go on and on. Also, I had to do a lot of soul-searching on each of these issues … especially the ethical part.

What's the gay scene like in Pune, which is considered quite conservative? How visible is the community? Despite its young student and BPO-KPO communities, is Pune still like Mumbai of the late 1980s when the only community activity in the city was one gay disco a week and one evening of cruising in a park?

The community is not visible at all. The important difference from Mumbai of the 1980s is the advent of the Internet. The number of cruising sites has increased as has blackmail and harassment. In the medical field, not much change though – most psychiatrists are either homophobic or hypocritical. They are our biggest enemies.

You recently said that for every one gay person in Pune who has helped you, there have been 10 heterosexuals who gave you their support. Why do you feel our community itself is ignoring you? What is the rationale for their apathy?

This apathy did come as a surprise. I think most closeted gay people hate anyone who has fought and found his freedom; they are jealous of anyone who escapes from hypocrisy. But I don’t blame them. At one time I used to hate Ashok Row Kavi for the same reason.

What are the top three issues you think are hurting gay people in India and what's your practical prescription for these?

The biggest problem is either ignorance or apathy in the community about the issue of Section 377 (of the Indian Penal Code). I have come across many gay men who don’t even know it's illegal for them to have sex.

Here, of course, we activists are to be blamed. We have done a shoddy job of highlighting the 377 issue. It's shameful, the kind of third-rate people who call themselves gay activists these days. Sometimes I think the gay movement will go down the drain the way women's lib in India has failed miserably. The other serious problem is that for many who know about 377 don’t care whether it stays or goes. I can't figure that one out. How could anyone not care whether that ugly piece of law is erased or not, I don’t know. Is it because many of us have decided to live a double life anyway?

Number two: how many of us have taken the time to seriously become comfortable with our sexuality and gain basic knowledge on alternate sexuality? So many of us spend the whole night finding new partners on the net or at (cruising) sites, and spend the next day hating ourselves for it. We don’t really give a damn about our mental health. That’s sad because instead of accepting our sexuality as beautiful and our love as pure, we spend our entire life burning in self-hate.

Lastly, despite knowing the high incidence of HIV in the gay community, many of us still continue to have sex without condoms. We refuse to become mature and take control of our lives. I can provide you information and condoms but I can't control HIV infection unless YOU care about yourself.

Activism and writing have always had a special bond. Did the need to write arise from there for you?

I think so. I used to feel ashamed to tell gays and 'straights' that "no, sorry but there is no book out there in Marathi that discusses gay issues". There was also another reason. In the US I had many gay friends to talk to. In Pune, I felt very suffocated as there were few people I could talk to about my issues and feelings. I think Partner was the outcome of these two reasons.

The HIV/AIDS helpline manual came from the experience of running my own helpline and helping set-up and supervise another HIV/AIDS helpline in Pune. Again, there was nothing in Marathi on the hows of setting up such a helpline. Writing has become a need for me. … Also, instead of repeating the same things over and over, it's better to put these down so that people can have access to answers long after I have (mentally) burnt out.

As an activist and former techie, do you feel an acute lack of online gay-themed literature in Marathi and other Indian languages?

Yes, definitely. The Indian gay movement's biggest failure is not being able to present its views to the common man in a language he understands. All we have is people who write in English, which is read by a negligible percentage of the population. Very few Indians are comfortable with English. It is also a relatively ‘safe’ language; there is a lesser chance of an aggressive reaction from people if the medium is English. It's not that English should not be used to voice our issues but by using only this language we ensure that gay issues remain Western or elitist subjects and indirectly help in propagating the stereotype that ‘gayness’ is a Western import.

How do Marathi press, cinema and theatre portray gay issues? Do they mainly demonise us or 'invisibilise' us?

Newspapers ignore these issues. But the gay Marathi-speaking community is to be blamed, too. How many of them write on gay issues? Is it not our duty to utilise the free press that we have, to talk about our issues? As far as cinema is concerned, except for Amol Palekar's 'Thang' (Quest) there is no Marathi feature film that has dealt with gay issues. Again, the gay community needs to make gay films. I hate this stand of waiting for someone else to come and fight our battles – is it a cultural thing with us Indians?

Do plays, books like yours and movies like 'Thang' generate either heat and dust or any debate in the Maharashtrian community?

Very few people want to see facets of life that make them uncomfortable. So they either choose to ignore (partly because they are in denial) or they get all worked up about it and froth at the mouth. There is no sincere attempt to understand issues related to homosexuality – because most people don’t want to. Still, it is important we keep on voicing our issues through various media. For those few who want to become more human, these resources should be available in Indian languages.

Disclosure: This writer is associated with Bindumadhav Khire's NGO for gays and men-who-have-sex-with men, ‘Samapathik Trust’, Pune (E-mail: samapathik@hotmail.com. Helpline: (0) 9890744677 (7 pm to 8 pm – Mondays only)

Extracts from the full interview were published in the The New Indian Express on Saturday, 3 May 2008.

Remembering Nishit Saran

Nitin Karani — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:27:47 EDT

Nishit Saran died on 24 April 2002 at the age of 26. He was a trailblazing filmmaker and is an inspiration to queer communities everywhere.
Born and raised in India, he moved to the US in 1994 for studies. Graduating with the highest honors in film from Harvard University in 1998, Saran was then awarded a prestigious teaching fellowship and a grant to make his first film. In 1998-99, Saran taught a year-long course in advanced film making at Harvard, and also finished the making of 'Summer in My Veins', at the age of 23.
A personal documentary made with just a hand-held camera, it won high praise for its frank portrayal of Saran's own struggle to reconcile his family ties and his homosexuality. The film has been screened at many international film festivals including Boston, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, Hawaii, New Zealand, and at both, public and private screenings in India. It was shown at what may well have been India's first gay and lesbian festival, 'Glitter & Gumboots', organized by Delhi's Lady Shri Ram College.

In May 1999, Saran returned to India to work on his next film. His first feature was 'A Perfect Day', an experimental film, 80 minutes in length, with a largely improvised script and minimal lighting that ignored many of the values of Bollywood; it was also India's first digital feature film. It was shown at the ITC Digital Talkies International Film Festival in March 2001, besides other festivals. Saran also made 'Project Flower' on street children in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, which premiered at the World AIDS Conference in Durban.

Saran was outspoken in his support for gay rights in India and contributed articles, reviews, and essays to numerous national publications and webzines, including the strident editorial, 'My sexuality is your business' in 'The Indian Express' of 8 February 2000, which attacked Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. Incidentally, he had been an editorial intern at his college magazine. (The Nishit Saran Foundation, run by the wonderful and brave Minna Saran and other family and friends, hosts some of his writings and photographs.)
Saran was researching Lord Shiva and the practice of Tantra for his next film project, when he passed away in a car accident.

Marching With Pride

Nitin Karani — Sun, 2 Jul 2006 18:05:23 EDT

Alternate sexualities. Everyone pretends we don't exist. Like the air we breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. You are not conscious of it. Maybe you don't want to be. Remember this song? But don't sing it--speak it: Kuch na kaho, kuch bhi na kaho. Kya kehna hai, kya sun-na hai. Tumko pata hai, mujhko pata hai. Samay ka ye pal tham sa gaya hai.

Time--at least the law--has stood still. Aren't more than A Hundred Years of Locking Us in the Closet Enough! An obnoxious British Raj law, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, stands on the books while the rest of India prides itself on being a sovereign, democratic republic, even the world's largest democracy. Human rights? Yes, but only custom-fit, convenient ones only please--we are Indians! Shame on you, Heterosexual India.

Around 30 per cent of the population is NOT heterosexual. Family: You, mummy, papa, dada, dadi, nana, nani. Wake up and smell the coffee, at least one of you IS gay or bisexual. Queer India, it's time to come out wherever you are and face yourself in the mirror. Breathe the air, feel it in your lungs. No more hiding--it's Truth AND dare. The truth shall set you free. Satyamev Jayate!

The Pride march this year started from the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near the maidan and ended at Rabindra Sadan. But this march of self-affirmation shall go on, until India Shame becomes India Shining: "Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..."

Pictures from my second Pride march can be found on these links. The first march in which I took part was also the first ever in India and again was held in Kolkata, in 1999.

My set of Pride march 2006 photos

A Directory of Queer Desi Blogs

Nitin Karani — Wed, 7 Jun 2006 08:21:08 EDT

The idea for this directory was suggested to me by a member of a gay Yahoo! group. In turn I had suggested he take up the task of compiling and maintaining this directory but apprently he felt I was being nasty. So I have made a list of queer Indian and 'desi' blogs I have come across (I will maintain this directory on to the Bombay Dost group's wiki: ).

Some of these blogs were recommended by friends (like vibs) and/or posters on Yahoo! groups. If you would like to add to this directory, please feel free to write a comment with the details. I hope to update this list as frequently as I can.

The blogs are listed in the directory purely for their queer content (note: some of the content is sexually explicit) and not for their entertainment value or literary merit. In fact, I find some of them rank boring. Whatever it is, it's here for you to pick and to choose which blog to follow.

If you know any others, please post the links.

Myopic Censor Board: Banned, Banned, Banned!

Nitin Karani — Sat, 20 May 2006 08:54:50 EDT

A still from Gulabi Aaina

Like Jesus Christ is said to have told Peter, 'Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice', the Indian Censor Board in Delhi has banned Sridhar Rangayan's film on drag queens thrice over.

While in April 2003 the censor board refused 'Gulabi Aaina' (The Pink Mirror) a certificate because it is "full of obscenity and vulgarity", recently in April 2006, the board has done a complete change of tack to keep the film in the closet! The revising committee and the second revising committee refused it a certificate because in their opinion "the film Gulabi Aaina deals with an extremely complex issue of alternate sexuality in a peripheral manner". Further, the board's order states, "The problems and isolation faced by transvestites has not been dealt with in a holistic manner. Thus the film is refused certification as per relevant provisions of Cinematograph Act 1952".

No, there's no need to be happy or shocked that our esteemed State-appointed gatekeepers of art have discovered that most Indian filmmakers, when they are not covering up homosexuality, are making fun of it. Theirs is neither a response to the 'Girlfriend' shock or to the 'My Brother Nikhil' balm. At worst it is an insidious, invidious game plan to keep a movie that makes no bones about same-sex desire and its natural ness with loads of humor hidden from the public gaze. At best, it is the sheer arrogance of an ignorant lot with no idea about the medium or the subject giving short shrift to the intelligence of both the audience and the filmmaker.

Sridhar is justifiably enraged and ready to join battle. He is planning to fight it out by taking the issue to the tribunal. (Also, see his comments below on the guidelines under which the committee reviewed the film and rejected it.) Fighting a battle for three years to get his film reviewed by the Board, Sridhar says he came across several skeletons in the censor board's cupboard: "From those who write censor scripts, but actually offer their services as touts to get the film passed by censors to filmmakers who add six scenes of violence so that the censors can cut three and pass it. I even found out from reliable sources that a recent, acclaimed gay film was passed by the Censor Board on payment of certain monies."

While Sridhar does praise the Board's chairperson Sharmila Tagore and the regional officer at Delhi who "at least gave the film a fair chance by putting it up for review", he is critical of the revising committee: "It was ridiculous sitting in front of six people and having to explain why I made the film and what I have tried to say in the film. If I could say it all verbally, then why did I have to use a visual medium like film!

"Peripheral and not holistic?! What do they expect me to say in 40 minutes, which is the length of my film. Moreover, 'Gulabi Aaina' is not a documentary. I wanted it to be an entertainer, but layered with subtext. When you do a film about gays, everyone expects a preachy message or a downright maudlin tearjerker. I wanted the audience to laugh with the characters instead of at them. Isn't that good enough reason to make the film and have it reach viewers? It's a different way of sensitizing."

The Board really takes the cake and the pudding for implying that Sridhar's film is insensitive to the problems faced by what it calls "transvestites". In fact, that requires a vast stretch of imagination considering that Sridhar has been one of the forbearer of the gay rights movement in Bombay, being deeply involved with 'Bombay Dost' and The Humsafar Trust. It's like calling Arjun Singh insensitive to the plight of OBC students (In Singh's case, we are not sure whether his sincerity is for the OBC cause or to his own political survival).

The feckless, hypocrites in the committee after all the 'tamasha' of interrogating Sridhar about the film didn't have the balls to pass the film. Says he, "They pretend they are broadminded, but when it comes to films with an alternate take, they cower. Basically, I have realized they wanted my characters to cry over their fate. They didn't take too kindly to the fact that I showed gays and drag queens happy with their lives and being unapologetic. They wanted a daily soap with buckets of tears!" If Ekta Kapoor was looking for 'chamchas', she would have found them there.

Sridhar Rangayan

Meanwhile, Sridhar is looking for your support, especially if you are from the film fraternity and/or the gay community: "My fight is about freedom of expression as a filmmaker, and I damn well know how to use it sensitively and sensibly."

Thankfully, Sridhar's latest film 'Yours Emotionally!' has been produced by a UK based production house so no going through the sicko censors this time!

Crafty Censors

Instead of protecting the citizens, more often the State uses the law to terrorize them and curb their rights. Our censorship guidelines have also been similarly twisted to restrict free speech and discussion of homosexuality.

While an in-depth look at the guidelines is needed, Sridhar gave his responses to some of the guidelines under which the committee reviewed 'Gulabi Aaina' and rejected it:

- The medium of film remains responsible and sensitive to the values and standards of society.
"Nowhere is it mentioned what are these great values and standards of the society that they talk about. It is all a thick cloud in the air that the moral policemen comfortably hide under."

- Artistic expression and creative freedom are not unduly curbed.
"But that's exactly what they are doing by banning my film. It's utterly ridiculous!"

- Certification is responsive to social change.
"If they keep refusing certificate to films that are away from the mainstream and attempt to discuss alternate issues, how do they expect any social change to happen? All they want is to maintain a status quo so that none of them will be blamed for taking an issue forward. It's the who-wants-to-bell-the-cat syndrome."

- The medium of film provides clean and healthy entertainment.
"Just look at all the masala films and skin flicks that get the Censor's nod. Calling it clean and healthy entertainment is a big joke. Take a reality check folks!"

- As far as possible, the film is of aesthetic value and cinematically of good standard.
"My film has been screened at 57 international film festivals and won Jury Awards for Best Film of the Festival in New York and France. Most of the reviews talk about the sensitive handling of the subject and it has been rated as 'fabulous', 'compelling', 'unique' and even 'an excellent example of Indian cinema' by a Spanish critic. An art historian at Ohio State University compared it to Shyam Benegal's 'Mandi', saying it bridged the gap between 'Fire' and 'Bombay Boys' by "adding that breath of reality". How much more aesthetic and cinematic value can I pump into the film to please the censors? Maybe I should include 5 grisly murders, 3 item numbers and a bevy of half-naked women!"

Lakshya: The Farmer Prince Comes Out

Nitin Karani — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:23:41 EST

The coming out of Manavendra Singh Gohil as a gay man has caused quite a stir in Gujarat within the circles of the erstwhile princely families: specifically in his native Rajpipla.

My friend, Vivek Raj Anand, has written a wonderful piece on Manav (as we call him) on the Gay_Bombay Yahoo! list.

Manav is a royal by birth and an earthworm-farmer by profession as Vivek writes, but his heart is with his organization, Lakshya. He received hints from his family to give it up, but he responded: "How can one abandon one's child?"

Lakshya, a registered public charitable trust, is Gujarat's first and only community-based organization (CBO) working for HIV/AIDS prevention among men who have sex with men.

In the year 2001, after a successful needs assessment study of MSM (men who have sex with men, a clinical umbrella term used for a range of sexualities and sexual behavior including gay and bisexual men) in Baroda and Surat, Lakshya was awarded two independent targeted intervention projects each in the two cities.

Since then, the two drop-in centers of Lakshya Trust run counseling services, weekly clinics for treatment of sexually transmitted infections, libraries and provide a safe, comfortable atmosphere for MSM. The work of Lakshya also includes condom use promotion, behavior change communication and creating an enabling environment for HIV prevention. This includes sensitization of professionals like doctors and society at large about issues around MSM. In Surat, Lakshya has been working among the transgender population too.

Apart from work on HIV/AIDS prevention, Manav's trust is trying to make the MSM population financially self-reliant by sourcing out and creating employment opportunities like tiffin services, handicraft making (through linkages with the Khadi Gram Board), etc. It also provides technical support for encouraging other MSM CBOs in different parts of Gujarat. Lakshya is now working towards starting a hospice/old age home for gay men and others.

Lakshya is now almost six years old--it was born on July 29, 2000 at the time of Gujarat's first MSM conference at Rajpipla, (which is in the Narmada district and home to Manav) with technical support from the Humsafar Trust. The conference had 45-50 MSM from all over the state and also representatives of Gujarat State AIDS Control Society (GSACS) and Daman SACS.

It was the first time in the history of Gujarat that MSM felt the need to come together on a single platform to deal with the problems of police harassment, marriage pressure, discrimination and other social and legal issues that affect them.

Manav and Lakshya in general have been active in international and national bodies--Lakshya is a member of the India Network For Sexual Minorities (INFOSEM). It is also a founder-member of Sexual Health Action Network (SHAN), a network of Gujarat's HIV/AIDS NGOs. The other partner NGOs of the Gujarat State AIDS Control Society have started utilizing its services in helping the MSM group within their own target populations.

Manav's life would in fact make a wonderful subject for a film and a documentary may be in the works already.

Lessons from Jammu and Lucknow

Nitin Karani — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 00:17:22 EST

It's an affliction that's widespread in our police force. They would rather harass and out two grown-up gay people rather than fight terrorism and real crime.

Two women, who allegedly married each other recently and were living together in the city, were arrested by the police and later let off with a directive to stay separately, official sources said on Friday

No wonder we have blasts after blasts (and there's more to come, you bet!). Even if there's nothing in the law that makes it a crime for lesbians to cohabit or even have sex, the police will poke their idiotic noses in our affairs. It's time we stopped being diffident and told errant cops to get off our backs!

One big mistake on the part of the LGBT community is that the police have not been sensitized to our issues. So you will find the Lucknow incident where gay outreach workers who are spreading AIDS prevention messages or ordinary gay men who cruise the Internet being arrested and humiliated (in front of the national media too boot--and the National Human Rights Commission cares a whit about it). On the other hand there have been no such incidents in Bombay where the Humsafar Trust has (disclosure: I am a trustee) been regularly holding workshops for the police force in different areas of the city.

It's time LGBT communities everywhere became more proactive instead of reacting to crises.